Recoil-pad for gun-butts.



E. RINGSMITH.

RECOIL PAD FOR GUN BUTTS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I9, 1916.

1,213,905 1 Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

ELIJ'AH RINGSMITH, OF MORENCI, ARIZONA.

RECOIL-PAD FOR GUN-BUTTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

Application filed June 19, 1916. Serial No. 104,456.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH RINGSMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morenci, in the county of Greenlee and State of Arizona, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Recoil-Pads for Gun-Butts, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to fire-arms, and particularly to the recoil pads used for taking up the kick or recoil of guns.

The general object of my invention is the provision of a device of this character which may be readily attached to or removed from an ordinary gun-butt without altering the gun in any way and without the necessity of employing a gunsmith for the purpose of applying or removing the pad.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be readily removed by an ordinary screw driver, and still another object is to provide a form of my device which comprises a recoil plate or pad detachably and hingedly connected to the butt-plate of the gun at one end and resiliently supported from and connected to the butt plate at the other end. 7

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a gun-butt with one form of my recoil pad applied thereto, the pad and a portion of the butt being shown in section; Fig. 2 is an elevation of a gun provided with another form of recoil pad; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the gun-butt having the form of the recoil pad shown in Fig. 2, the pad and butt being partly in section; Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the recoil pad; and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the end of the gun butt showing the spring 27.

Referring to Fig. 1, where the simplest formof my invention is shown, 10 designates a gun-butt provided with the usual butt-plate 11, This is held in place upon the gun-butt by the screws 12 and 13, these screws being headed. Held in place upon the gun-butt by means of the headed screws 12 and 13 are the coil springs 14L and'15. Each of these springs has the form of a gradually diminishing heliX., The small end of the spring surrounds the screws 12 or 13, as the case may be, while the large end of each spring engages in a recess 16 formed in the recoil pad proper 17. This pad may have any suitable form, may be curved to fit the shoulder, and-may be of any suitable material. As illustrated in Fig. 1, however, the pad is flat and is formed of wood or vulcanite.

The pad 17 is provided with openings 18 which extend into the recesses 16 and when the recoil pad is in place come opposite to the screws 12 and 13. It will be seen, therefore, from Fig. l'that a screw driver may be inserted through either of the openings 18," and passed through the springs 1 1 or 15 and engaged with the screws 12 or 13, as the case may be. Preferably the spring 15 is heavier than the spring 14 as the shock of the recoil isgreater at the upper part of the gun-butt than it is at the lower portion and therefore the spring 14 may be made lighter. It is obvious that this recoil pad illustrated in Fig. 1 may be readily attached to or removed from any gun without in any way disfiguring the gun and without calling in the assistance of an expert workman. The only thing needed to detach it is a screw driver.

In Fig. 3 I show another form of the in vention which in many respects is preferable to the form illustrated in Fig.1. In this figure the gun-butt is designated 10 and the butt-plate 11, the screws being designated 12 and 13. All of thesepa-rts are old and well known. In this form of the device the recoil pad 19 is shown as somewhat curved and upon its inner face is provided with a metallic plate 20. This metallic plate is held to' the recoil pad by rivets, screws or any other suitable devices of like character. As shown, it is held by screws 21.

Attached to one end of the plate 20, as by means of a rivet 22, is a resilient strip 23 which is longitudinally slotted as at 24c. The slot is wide enough to receive the shank of the screw 12 but is less in width than the head of the screw so that the plate 23 may be slipped into engagement with the screw' 12. The opposite end of the plate 20 is formed with oppositely disposed lips or lugs 25 and 26 which are stamped up from the metal of the plate and which are adapted to engage over the large end of the coil spring 2'7. The small end of this spring is engaged with a screw 13 in the manner heretofore described. The large end of the spring, as illustrated in Fig. 1, is formed at diametrically opposite parts with inwardly extending bends 28 which are adapted to be engaged with the lips or lugs 25 and 26 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3.

The plate 23 forms in effect a resilient hinge for one end of the butt-plate, and it is also obvious that the screw 12 forms a pivot upon which the butt plate 'may be rotated laterally in order to engage or disengage the lips 25 and 26 from engagement with the bends 28. Now when it is desired to attach the recoil pad to the butt of the gun the strip 23 is disposed against the butt-plate and the recoil pad shifted longi tudinally so as to carry the screw head into the slot 2 1-. Vhen it has'been carried to the proper position the recoil pad may be shifted laterally so as to slip the lips 25 and 26 over the large end of the spring 27 and the outer coil of this spring yields until the depressions 28 are slipped into engagement with the lips 25 and 26. The recoil pad is then firmly attached to the gun-butt. While the spring strip 23 acts to resist recoil and reduce it, the principal checking of the recoil is accomplished by the spring 27. r

Particular attention is called to the fact that this device is especially simple, that it may be readily manufactured, can be applied to guns without altering or disfiguring the stock, and that it does not require the skill of a gunsmith in order to detach it. I am aware that heretofore recoil pads have been made which are at tachable to or detachable from gun-butts, but in all cases known to me the device is complicated and cannot be readily attached to or detached from a gun-butt without disfiguring it. This is not the case with my pad. The stock does not have to be bored out or otherwise channeled or formed to receive any part of the recoil pad, nor is there any leather casing or shoe to which the recoil pad is fastened, which leather casing or shoe has been found to be very objectionable.

It is obvious, of course, that many minor changes might be made in the details of this device without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described the invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a gun-butt having headed screws, of a recoil pad and a coil spring, the coil gradually diminishing in diameter, the small end of the coil being engaged by a corresponding headed screw and the large end of the coil being engaged with the recoil pad, said recoil pad havingan opening through which the screw may be removed.

2. The combination with a gun-butt, of headed screws extending therefrom and having their heads slightly spaced from the face of the gun-butt, resilient members engaged by the heads of the screws and projecting beyond said heads, and a recoil pad operatively engaged by the resilient members and supported in spaced relation to the heads of the screws.

3. The combination with a gun-butt, of headed screws extending therefrom and having their heads slightly spaced from the face of the gun-butt, resilient members engaged by the headed screws and projecting beyond the heads thereon, and a detaclmble recoil pad operatively engaged by said resilient members, said pad being provided with openings alining with the screws whereby the screws may be removed from engagement with the gun-butt.

L'The combination with a gun-butt, of headed screws extending therefrom, a recoil pad, a spring engaged with one of said screws and detachably. engaged with the recoil pad, and a hinge member engaged with the other end of the recoil pad and pivotally but detachably engaged with the other screw.

5. The combination with a gun-butt, of headed screws extending therefrom, a recoil pad, a spring engaged with one of said Screws and detachably engaged with the recoil pad, and a resilient hinge member engaged with the other end of the recoil pad and detachably engaged with the other screw.

6. The combination with a gun butt, of headed screws extending therefrom, a coil spring detachably engaged with one of said screws and having its outermost coil formed with diametrically disposed reentrant bends, a recoil pad having means at one end for detachably engaging the outermost coil of the spring, and a resilient strip engaged with the other end of the recoil pad and longitudinally slotted for engagement with the other headed screw.

7. The combination with a gun-butt, of headed screws extending therefrom, a spring engaged by one of said screws, 2. recoil pad, a metallic plate disposed on the inner face of the pad, screws engaging opposite ends of the metallic plate at opposite ends of the recoil pad, means disposed on said plate and on diametrically opposite sides of one of said second-named screws for detachably engaging said spring, and a resilient strip pivoted to the outer end of In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my the metallic plate and hilVlfilg a1 longitudisignature in the presence of two witnesses. nally extending slot norrna y a inin with the opening for the corresponding slacond- RINGSMITH' named screw, said plate being slotted to Witnesses:

have sliding engagement with the corre- J. P. MoN'rEz,

spending first-named screw. V. H; HOLME.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

